Community Theatre and AIDS

193 Pages·2011·6.252 MB·English

by  Ola Johansson (auth.)

Studies in International Performance
Published in association with the International Federation of Theatre Research
General Editors: Janelle Reinelt and Brian Singleton
Culture and performance cross borders constantly, and not just the borders
that define nations. In this new series, scholars of performance produce interac-
tions between and among nations and cultures as well as genres, identities and
imaginations.
Inter-national in the largest sense, the books collected in the Studies in International
Performance series display a range of historical, theoretical and critical approaches
to the panoply of performances that make up the global surround. The series
embraces ‘Culture’ which is institutional as well as improvised, underground or
alternate, and treats ‘Performance’ as either intercultural or transnational as well
as intracultural within nations.
Titles include:
Patrick Anderson and Jisha Menon (editors)
VIOLENCE PERFORMED
Local Roots and Global Routes of Conflict
Elaine Aston and Sue-Ellen Case
STAGING INTERNATIONAL FEMINISMS
Christopher Balme
PACIFIC PERFORMANCES
Theatricality and Cross-Cultural Encounter in the South Seas
Matthew Isaac Cohen
PERFORMING OTHERNESS
Java and Bali on International Stages, 1905–1952
Susan Leigh Foster
WORLDING DANCE
Helen Gilbert and Jacqueline Lo
PERFORMANCE AND COSMOPOLITICS
Cross-Cultural Transactions in Australasia
Helena Grehan
PERFORMANCE, ETHICS AND SPECTATORSHIP IN A GLOBAL AGE
Judith Hamera
DANCING COMMUNITIES
Performance, Difference, and Connection in the Global City
Silvija Jestrovic and Yana Meerzon (editors)
PERFORMANCE, EXILE AND ‘AMERICA’
Ola Johansson
COMMUNITY THEATRE AND AIDS
Sonja Arsham Kuftinec
THEATRE, FACILITATION, AND NATION FORMATION IN THE
BALKANS AND MIDDLE EAST
Carol Martin (editor)
THE DRAMATURGY OF THE REAL ON THE WORLD STAGE
Alan Read
THEATRE, INTIMACY & ENGAGEMENT
The Last Human Venue
Shannon Steen
RACIAL GEOMETRIES OF THE BLACK ATLANTIC, ASIAN PACIFIC AND
AMERICAN THEATRE
Joanne Tompkins
UNSETTLING SPACE
Contestations in Contemporary Australian Theatre
S. E. Wilmer
NATIONAL THEATRES IN A CHANGING EUROPE
Evan Darwin Winet
INDONESIAN POSTCOLONIAL THEATRE
Spectral Genealogies and Absent Faces
Forthcoming titles:
Adrian Kear
THEATRE AND EVENT
Studies in International Performance
Series Standing Order ISBN 978–1–4039–4456–6 (hardback)
978–1–4039–4457–3 (paperback)
(outside North America only)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a
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Community Theatre
and AIDS
Ola Johansson
© Ola Johansson 2011
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-1-349-30177-5
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
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permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
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Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-0-230-20515-4 ISBN 978-0-230-30043-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230300439
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
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A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
For Amanda, Ezra and Zaza
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Series Editors’ Preface xi
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
Bringing the messages back to their questions 7
A festival, travelling troupes, and ukimwi 11
The fieldwork sites 16
Research hypothesis and realization 22
1 HIV Prevention as Community-Based Theatre 33
Life as epidemic mimicry 33
The parallel developments of community-based theatre
and HIV prevention 37
The development of Theatre for Development 41
The reproductive misfortune of Zakia 52
2 The Performativity of Community-Based Theatre 56
Topical uncertainties of traditional practices 59
The ritual function of speech acts 62
The performativity of community-based theatre 66
3 The Social Drama of Backstage Discourse and
Performance 79
Part I 80
Morbidity and commitment in Ilemera village 80
The religious predicament 86
The backstage performance of community-based theatre 90
Part II 92
The social drama of AIDS statistics 92
The social drama of focus group discussions 94
Focus group discussions as action research 104
Part III 105
A lost performance in Mumbaka village 105
A wider epidemic pattern 120
vii
viii Contents
4 A Deadly Paradox: Assessing the Success/Failure of
Community-Based Theatre against AIDS 123
CBT as epidemiological counteraction 126
The multiple lives and deaths of Neema 130
Towards a community-based theatre as a relational agency 138
Recommendations 142
Appendices
Appendix I: Focus Group Discussions: Modus Operandi 149
Appendix II: Questionnaire for HIV Preventive
Organizations in Tanzania 151
Notes 156
Bibliography 169
Index 177
List of Illustrations
Pictures
1 A poster about the increasing burden of funerals in
Botswana in 2002 2
2 The theatre troupe Red Star rehearsing music before their
show at the festival in Bagamoyo, September 2001 12
3 A widow is rescued at the last moment by a neighbour
as she attempts to commit suicide; performance by Red Star
theatre troupe in their home town Bukoba, Kagera region,
in 2004 14
4 The theatre group from the Lumesule youth centre in the
Mtwara region being transported on the back of a
pick-up truck 19
5 A ferry on Lake Victoria, close to Bukoba town in the
Kagera region 34
6 Three female characters perform before an audience in the
village of Sululu in the Mtwara region 43
7 A Joker leads a post-performance discussion in the village
of Sululu, Mtwara region 50
8 Audience at a community performance at Bunazi
market near the Ugandan border in the Kagera region 69
9 Rehearsal of a scene about circumcision in Mikangaula
youth centre, Mtwara region 77
10 Personnel at the youth centre of Ilemera village,
Kagera region 80
11 Four women from the village of Gabulanga in an ongoing
focus group discussion 85
12 A young man discusses condom use with counsellors
in a performance in Birabo, Kagera region 89
13 A community group performs a dance before the theatre
performance in the village of Kenyana, Kagera region 129
14 The older brother grabs Neema’s hand after demanding
sex from her 131
15 Audience in the village of Kenyana 133
16 A woman pushes a man after finding out about his
second wife; performance in Masasi town, Mtwara region 138
ix